crack the plates

On Monday, March 29 at 5:30pm I attended my first Passover Seder! It was put together by my very good friend Aaron, Earlham College’s current Rabbinic intern. I enjoyed learning about the symbolic foods, as well as trying to muddle my way through the songs in Hebrew! I’d like to think I picked up a tune or two by night’s end. Here are a few photos from the event.

Our shared Passover table. I sat next to longtime friend Benji and new friend Maurice; my partner Nate and seminary friends Dave and Lynne joined us.

You might notice the cut-out bone, rather than a real one, gracing our table. Real bones (representing that of the sacrifice the night before the Exodus) would have been messy and disturbing to our vegetarian friends! (This was an interfaith event.)

Breaking our matzoh, prior to the re-telling of the Passover story and the four questions!

Quinoa, a lovely vegan, Passover-approved main course!

A surprisingly confessional & somewhat depressing post. Hold on to your hats.

Several reasons we should have dinner together:

Veggie cashew tom yum curry, shared with friends Lindsey & Chris.

My plate, close-up.

Indian feast, shared with friends Kelly & Chris.

Sweet roasted root vegetables and bhindi masala, enjoyed with friend Dave.

Dinner plate:

When I lived in Atlanta (particularly post-undergrad) my favorite thing to do was throw a dinner party & have lots of friends over. It’s almost unreasonable how effortless it was to send out a mass text or quick e-mail and, just a few hours later, be greeted by a half dozen or more of my favorite people. So many of my best memories revolve around food: like the time I prepared a full-on Mediterranean-style mezze meal for my best friend Jina that featured hand-stuffed vegan dolmades (grape leaves; not to mention tabouli, baba ghanoush, hummus, and more). Or the time my ex & I slaved in a hot June kitchen putting together possibly the most overblown Southern meal of my life–collards, cornbreads, chick’n fried tofu smothered in gravy, skillet corn, fried okra, fried squash…the list goes on. Or the year “Christmas” to my nearest & dearest meant a lavish Indian-style meal served in courses on pillows in the gorgeous condo where I was house-sitting at the time. Not to mention the fact that more than a couple of friends chose to introduce me to their newest sig ot over a shared dinner. Preparing food together is a great way to get to know someone, and it’s always fun to gossip about a new beau’s knife-skills (or lack thereof) later.

Make no mistake: these things happened on a weekly basis. Despite being busy employees (of art magazines, non-profits, hospitals, restaurants, and major research universities; third-shift included) and grad students, we made time for one another. Sure, I was often the catalyst, providing the welcoming home and the good food, but folks showed an interest. They showed up.

I grieve for the fact that, here in Richmond, it has not been so easy. My friends are often so perennially over-scheduled that I seem to have to start checking dates or soliciting for these ridiculous doodle polls weeks in advance. We lack a culture of breezy stop-ins and drop-bys…regrettably, the few times I’ve bucked the trend and just gone for it, it’s been a little hairy. (Not that anyone’s ever been inhospitable–but the surprise showed.) Our buzzword is, tragically, “busy”–but for what? Unprogrammed time, unregimented schedules, & spontaneous fun are in perilously short supply. Why? Is anyone happier for it? I know I’m not. At the risk of being overly confessional, I recently posted several pictures from happy days/meals past on my wall to remind me of gentler times…and to give me hope that one day I’ll be having those great parties again.

And there are glimmers of hope. Recently a friend stopped by, totally unexpected, and we ended up having a joyful hour-long conversation over tea. I wasn’t even recovered yet from a recent illness, but her presence filled me with energy and life. I know that now is not, with 32 packed days left til my Master’s thesis is turned in, a particularly auspicious time to start throwing dinner parties…or even encouraging all of my friends to show up at the doorstep anytime they please. But I do plan on continuing to cultivate an open, hospitable spirit, such that when these 32 days have been conquered I can apply myself with renewed vigor to friendship-building through food. Perhaps in so doing I’ll slowly be able to loosen my vice-grip on past memories, dear as they are.

But I can’t do this without you. We’ve gotta build this together.

A necessary post-script: Thanks to those who are already doing it, who inspire me, who’ve made time for dinner and meaningful conversation. You are the reason this post has pictures. :)

I let nearly a month go by without blogging? How dumb. It’s not like I haven’t been cooking and eating… I have. (I was really sick for over a week–like, couldn’t-get-out-of-bed-for-four-straight-days sick)–& have had a lot going on thesis-wise. The good news is that with only 33 days to go til the darn thing is printed on specialty paper & bound, I’m in great shape.) So I’ll be using this week to get caught up on some of my recent kitchen adventures. When I’m not thesisizing, philosophizing, rubbing my cat’s belly or watching the queens duke it out on RuPaul’s Drag Race (an OBSESSION), you’ll find me here. So check back!

Post-illness, I itched to get back into the kitchen & prepare something more complicated than canned soup. So yesterday I cleaned out the veggie drawers of four bunches of organic golden beets, chopped up a cabbage & steamed it a la mama, whisked up some low-fat tofu & no-fat gravy, and partnered it all with an organic baked potato (and MORE GRAVY). Divine!

The beets were simply tossed in two tablespoons of olive oil, primo cinnamon & garam masala and then roasted in the oven for 40minutes at 400 (cover with foil for the first 25, remove for the last 15) . My new favorite way!

Today’s was even better. I wanted to do something with the bag of Dixie Diner no-chicken breasts I bought last summer with our annual TVP order & only just rediscovered a couple weeks before the expiration date. Lucky! I thought I’d just do something simple, like boil, sautee, and pair with last night’s leftover gravy, but I was soon taken by more exciting possibilities. Basically I thought, hell, I’ve got the resources, time, & enthusiasm–why not just go all the way & make a vegan chick’n parmigiana for the first time? And so I did. Here’s a shot of Nate’s plate:

In hindsight, this was actually kind of a lot of work…but in the moment, it didn’t seem like a big deal at all. First, simmer the chops in chick’n flavored veggie broth for 25 minutes. Then, make a seasoned breadcrumb mix (breadcrumbs + cracked black pepper + powdered garlic + nutritional yeast) and dredge the cooked “breasts”. Spritz with Bragg’s and bake in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes.

baked cutlets: your non-vegan momma would never know the difference.

cutlets and sauce

Meanwhile, heat up tomato sauce (I cheated & used Kroger’s organic Italian herb, snagged on manager’s special for .99/jar) and make the Cheezy sauce. I use “The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook” recipe with some changes:

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes + 1/2 cup flour + tsp salt + 1/2 tsp garlic powder + 2 cups water + 1/4 cup margarine + 1tsp wet mustard (I used dijon)

Whisk the dry ingredients in a big bowl and then dump in your large (10-12”) skillet; whisk; whisk in water. Cook over med-ish heat, whisking constantly, til it starts to feel thick and bubble slightly. Cook at this state for under a minute; remove from heat, whip in margarine and mustard. Whisk thoroughly. The Farm recipe adds that it will thicken as it cools.

Nate is absolutely ga-ga over this cheeze; I think it’s pretty good (and certainly went well in this recipe) but, to be honest, it is not my favorite thing in the world. So it depends!

I prefer skinny noodles to shaped pasta:

The end!

After a lovely dinner of barbequed oven-baked tofu, Nate I are settling in to watch Disney’s Alice in Wonderland in protest of the Burton abomination presently sweeping the nation. (Has anyone I know actually seen it yet? What did you think? Or, if not, why are you avoiding?)

One of my favorite scenes.

These days I drink only a handful of times a year; tonight I’m enjoying a lovely beer called Éphémère by Unibroue, a Canadian brewing company. According to their website, it “possesses a fresh apple aroma with reminiscent notes of ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘McIntosh’ a subtle flavour of green apple is complemented by delicate notes of fruit and spice topped by a rich white head.” I first tried it in October at Chicago’s vegan bike-themed restaurant, Handlebar; Nate picked up a couple more bottles at the famous Half Time party shop in Poughkeepsie, New York, over Christmas. It’s best served in a champagne flute.

If you’re a vegan who enjoys spirits, you’ll do well to check out Barnivore: your vegan beer & wine guide. It proved an invaluable resource last fall as I bought for Nate’s Hobbit-themed birthday bash. I was surprised that every specialty beer I looked up was accounted for: Gulden Draak (more at Beer Advocate), Weyerbacher (Merry Monks; Quad), Hitachino Nest Ginger Brew by Kiuchi, Trappistes Rochefort (#10, bebe), Lagunitas (Censored & IPA), Unibroue (La Fin Du Monde & Trois Pistoles), and Rogue (Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar makes me melt!). They’re not all available in Indiana; I had to pick up the Lagunitas in Michigan while visiting Jina beena.

Speaking of, check all this gorgeous bottle opener she brought back from Greece in 2007:

Thanks, Jiji. You are one classy lady.

For our sumptuous tofu dinner I used Isa’s “BBQ Pomegranate Tofu” recipe as a guide. Have you been eyeing that one in Vegan with a Vengeance but haven’t yet tried it because it calls for crazy ingredients? Well, don’t be bullied by the inclusion of pomegranate molasses–I’ve been using plain ol blackstrap & the dish always turns out fine. I also subbed a finely-chopped onion for the shallots tonight & used crunchy peanut butter instead of plain.

Don’t have Vegan with a Vengeance? Buy a copy! It’s one of the best vegan cookbooks out there for new & seasoned vegs alike. You won’t be disappointed. (And, of course, if you’re in the Richmond area you’re welcome to use my food-spattered copy.)

(PS: I typed this entire post tipsy. How obvious?)